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Original poster

Selling house no building regs

48 replies

YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 15:09

Hi All,

I didn’t know what category to pick so I’m sorry if I got it wrong. I have a made a bit of mistake with home renovations. Basically we added a small (permitted development) extension to the side of our house in 2021, we had friends in the trade complete the works none of which mentioned the need for building regs. This included a load bearing wall knock through and RSJ fitted. Fast forward to now we are hoping to sell our house (offer accepted) however filling out the conveyancing paperwork it has become apparent this is going to be in issue. We don’t want to go down the retrospective building regs route as we understand this will likely incur issues and costs. Has anyone been in a similar situation and managed to sell/buy a house with no building regs? What was the resolution.

I know this is our complete mess up, and I know what we should have done but hoping there is some solution for us.

thanks

OP posts:
YummyCookie · 05/03/2025 15:12

You can take out an indemnity insurance to cover the lack of building regs. It will depend though if your buyer and their solicitor/lender is happy to proceed with that instead.

canyon2000 · 05/03/2025 15:30

I would wonder if their mortgage company would allow them to buy a house with no building regs.

Gettingbysomehow · 05/03/2025 15:33

Nobody will buy your house without building regs, this happened to me and the house could not actually be sold without them.
You HAVE to get retrospective building regs.
It messed up my move for my new job and I had to pay rent AND mortgage for 6 months as I had to move until it was sorted. It nearly ruined me.
Don't bother with indemnity insurance, nobody is stupid enough to agree to that because it's not worth the paper it's written on.
Sorry.

bilbodog · 05/03/2025 15:33

We had to get BR after we had knocked the kitchen through to a conservatory when we decided to sell sometime later. It didnt cost much at all - my DH had to expose the RSJ so inspectors could check it was adequate, which it was, and utcwas signed iff almost immediately. Sale went through no problem.

Gettingbysomehow · 05/03/2025 15:33

canyon2000 · 05/03/2025 15:30

I would wonder if their mortgage company would allow them to buy a house with no building regs.

This.

justanothercrapbedtime · 05/03/2025 15:39

If you knew it fell under permitted development rights it's pretty naive to not have known about Building regulations since you'd have had to have researched the first point and 99.9% of the time BR will be mentioned alongside it

Taking down a load bearing wall....how did you know what RSJ to put in?

Retrospective BR isnt likely to cause "issues" at all - I'd imagine they'd ask you to open up some areas - inspect it and then patch it up

BR tend to be pretty pragmatic and not expect you to tear things down and re do it unless it was deemed completely unsafe

TimeForATerf · 05/03/2025 15:41

DS was buying a house where an en-suite had been added to a bedroom with building regs, the mortgage co wouldn’t lend without them. The sellers had to have an extractor fan fitted and get retrospective sign off from the council,

Highly unlikely you will get this through the solicitor without them.

Floopdifloo · 05/03/2025 15:57

My experience was different to previous posters - sold my house last year and declared that I’d knocked down a load bearing wall when I first bought it.

When I had it done I was in my 20s and had no clue about building whatsoever - just used a trusted builder my family had used for years. He got structural engineer calculations sorted, stuck in the RSJ but never mentioned anything to me about needing building regs so that part never happened. When I came to sell the house nobody cared or asked even a single question about it, they were more concerned about needing every tiny detail about the historical leasehold which cost £4 annually and had absolutely no impact on the day to day living in the house 😂

minnienono · 05/03/2025 16:26

I would sort out the building regs, most mortgage companies demand this is sorted, more and more indemnity insurance isn't accepted

Original poster
YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 16:32

Thank you for all your responses, it certainly looks like retrospective building regs will certainly be required. Just to add, this was our first home, we were in our 20’s and (naively) didn’t ask any questions regarding regulations etc. the extension was built where a conservatory once stood so took this as acceptable. Silly us hey 😔

OP posts:
Original poster
YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 16:34

Floopdifloo · 05/03/2025 15:57

My experience was different to previous posters - sold my house last year and declared that I’d knocked down a load bearing wall when I first bought it.

When I had it done I was in my 20s and had no clue about building whatsoever - just used a trusted builder my family had used for years. He got structural engineer calculations sorted, stuck in the RSJ but never mentioned anything to me about needing building regs so that part never happened. When I came to sell the house nobody cared or asked even a single question about it, they were more concerned about needing every tiny detail about the historical leasehold which cost £4 annually and had absolutely no impact on the day to day living in the house 😂

This is the only response that’s given me a glimmer of hope 😂 did you declare the work on your solicitors paperwork? We have done, so undoubtedly questions will be asked

OP posts:
Original poster
YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 16:37

Gettingbysomehow · 05/03/2025 15:33

Nobody will buy your house without building regs, this happened to me and the house could not actually be sold without them.
You HAVE to get retrospective building regs.
It messed up my move for my new job and I had to pay rent AND mortgage for 6 months as I had to move until it was sorted. It nearly ruined me.
Don't bother with indemnity insurance, nobody is stupid enough to agree to that because it's not worth the paper it's written on.
Sorry.

Sorry this happened to you, I suspect we will be in a very similar situation. A costly mistake on our part for sure

OP posts:
Original poster
YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 16:40

justanothercrapbedtime · 05/03/2025 15:39

If you knew it fell under permitted development rights it's pretty naive to not have known about Building regulations since you'd have had to have researched the first point and 99.9% of the time BR will be mentioned alongside it

Taking down a load bearing wall....how did you know what RSJ to put in?

Retrospective BR isnt likely to cause "issues" at all - I'd imagine they'd ask you to open up some areas - inspect it and then patch it up

BR tend to be pretty pragmatic and not expect you to tear things down and re do it unless it was deemed completely unsafe

I agree, the whole situation was very naive by us. We trusted friends in the trade to advise and build correctly without doing proper research. I very much put this down to being young first time buyers, but as always the world has a way of teaching us lessons. Thank you for responding

OP posts:
cherrytree12345 · 05/03/2025 17:17

We had two rooms knocked into one and an RSJ fitted, no building regs/permission etc. When we sold we had to pay for indemnity insurance which was around £50 I think (3 years ago). It wasnt an issue at all

maximist · 05/03/2025 17:32

When I sold my last house my buyers' solicitor wanted building regs for the living room/dining room which had been knocked through long before I bought it, so at least 20 years previously (this wasn't mentioned when I bought the house). Obviously I didn't have anything, but thankfully my buyers told their solicitor not to be ridiculous and the sale went through with no problems. They didn't need a mortgage, so that may have made a difference, I'm not sure.

NotMeNoNo · 05/03/2025 17:40

You need to get your trusted friend to find the calculations and ideally photos/specifications of the RSJ, and get it regularised. We insisted on that for our current house, the building inspector was happy to certify based on that evidence and some photos.

Wonderknicks · 05/03/2025 17:43

TimeForATerf · 05/03/2025 15:41

DS was buying a house where an en-suite had been added to a bedroom with building regs, the mortgage co wouldn’t lend without them. The sellers had to have an extractor fan fitted and get retrospective sign off from the council,

Highly unlikely you will get this through the solicitor without them.

We had exactly the same situation & result, & this was 30 years ago.

Floopdifloo · 05/03/2025 18:44

YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 16:34

This is the only response that’s given me a glimmer of hope 😂 did you declare the work on your solicitors paperwork? We have done, so undoubtedly questions will be asked

Show quote history

Yes I declared it in the forms they sent me to fill in. They asked for indemnity insurance against the fact that historically there was mining “in the area” (no evidence it was anywhere near my house and the house had been standing for over 100 years without issue!) which I refused to pay, but literally zero questions about the FULL renovation I’d carried out when I purchased it. Bonkers.

The building regs didn’t end up being a problem for me, but probably less of a headache for you if you just get it done!

sofski91 · 05/03/2025 19:58

I also sold a flat with no building regs and bought a house without them.
Like all the other posters I was never told I needed them at the time.
I thought it was bizarre, apparently you need building regs to move a sink, surely that’s why you hire a plumber in the first place, so it’s done properly.
Also BR’s are often nowadays carried out by private companies. They have a financial incentive to sign them off……so all sorts of shoddy work gets signed off by them.

bunsnroses1 · 07/03/2025 05:13

Why are you so against getting a regularisation certificate? It's really not a big deal, I had to get one from the council as our build dragged on for so long the private company we used for building regs had ceased trading by the time we got round to applying for the completion certificate. Man from council came round (I'd kept the plans/calculations so he didn't need to make holes in anything) all signed off and certificate issued within a week. Cost £300.

barbiegirl881 · 07/03/2025 06:06

I know several people (including me) who have bought/sold property without building regs. In my current place we got indemnity insurance when we bought it because the prior owner didn’t get the regs and our buyer is now getting it too. Both banks are fine with lending. Once you’ve told the council there’s been a contravention you can no longer get the indemnity insurance and councils can take around 18 months to inspect so your sale will likely fall through (this just happened to me as the seller had told the council trying to get retrospective permission quickly which isn’t a thing really in today’s climate with how councils operate)
Your conveyancer can advise you but don’t do anything until you’ve talked to them.

Oblomov25 · 07/03/2025 06:32

Have you actually contacted the council yet, to find out what their timeframe is?

Lulu1919 · 07/03/2025 06:36

Mortgage lender will require building insurance
Hard to get when no buildings regs available for the work

Pastpresentt · 07/03/2025 06:42

YourBoldFox · 05/03/2025 16:32

Thank you for all your responses, it certainly looks like retrospective building regs will certainly be required. Just to add, this was our first home, we were in our 20’s and (naively) didn’t ask any questions regarding regulations etc. the extension was built where a conservatory once stood so took this as acceptable. Silly us hey 😔

Don’t use your age as an excuse. I’m also in my 20s and know that a house extension requires planning permission. It was only a few years ago so you could’ve at least googled it beforehand. It’s common sense.

3within3 · 07/03/2025 06:50

This happened to me, both buying and selling. My solicitors advice was whatever you do don’t speak to the local council as they will have no choice but to insist on retrospective regs as soon as they’ve been informed about it, and you’re not then able to get indemnity insurance. And the issue with retrospective regs is that the criteria for regs change frequently. Therefore depending on when the work was done, it could mean that it wouldn’t necessarily pass the up to date regs criteria. In both cases I used an indemnity (paid for by house seller) it was less than £100 and was fine.